Rock a Bye Bot 2: Slo Mo's Revenge
by Twin-One
Summary: TF Animated - Slo-Mo’s back and she has a new timepiece and an evil plan that will soon put Sari’s baby-sitting skills to the ultimate test!
1. Baby Swindle Arrives

**Author's Note: **Originally debuted on my Deviantart gallery. This is the sequel to my 'Rock a Bye Bot' fic. Since my first one went over so well and I started having people asking to see certain characters baby-fied, I decided to write a sequel. Unlike my first one, this one is a little bit longer and will have chapters.

**The events that take place in this fic happen sometime between the episodes, 'Black Friday' and 'A Bridge Too Close part 1'. As far as I know, there shouldn't be any spoilers.**

**Disclaimer:** I am only a fan and do not own anything of Transformers Animated!! All characters, names and anything else pertaining to Transformers Animated are owned and copyrighted by their respectful owners (Hasbro, Cartoon Network, etc). The only thing I own is the fanfic itself. This fanfic and any of my other fanfics may not be copied, altered, edited or posted elsewhere without my permission. For those of you who may speak another language please feel free to translate my story into your native language for better understanding and your personal enjoyment ONLY, or to show to a friend that may not speak English.

**Rated G –** All age enjoyment

* * *

The Autobots and Sari were spending a quiet evening at their automotive plant home—watching movies, playing video games, and catching up on personal work. It had been an unusually slow night for everyone, giving them much needed time to relax. While Bulkhead, Sari, and Bumblebee were heavily engaged in a movie, Ratchet, Prowl, and Optimus Prime busied themselves with checking medical equipment, working on a few glitches they found in the computers, and keeping their optics on scanners and monitors that alerted them of any activity going on in the outside world.

Everything was perfect. Nothing on earth could ruin this rare movie night with friends, Sari had thought. Soon, however, a faint sound reached the young girl's ears. She wasn't sure, but she thought it sounded like… a baby?

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" Sari said, turning to Bumblebee sitting beside her.

"Hear what?" Bumblebee replied, not even bothering to take his optics off the movie playing on the huge TV screen.

"That sound," Sari turned her head to see if she could tell where the sound was coming. "It sounds like a baby crying."

"Don't be silly," Bulkhead laughed, "There aren't any babies here."

"It's probably just in the movie." Bumblebee smiled. "I believe they're called background noises or something."

Bumblebee was probably right, but Sari couldn't shake the feeling that the sound was closer than that. She hopped down off the cement couch and started walking around the room. It didn't sound like it was coming from within the plant. She turned her head toward the front door.

"Bumblebee, Bulkhead!" she called, "Come here." Immediately her friends came to her side.

"What's wrong, Sari?" Bumblebee asked.

"Listen,"

Bumblebee hit the mute button on the remote he held in his hand and everyone stood still and listened.

"That's no background noise." said Bulkhead, hearing the frightened screams and crying that was coming from just outside the door.

"Bumblebee, go get Optimus," Sari whispered, a twinge of fear gripping her. Without a word, Bumblebee ran off into one of the rooms for a few minutes before returning with Optimus, Ratchet, and Prowl close behind.

"Optimus, listen," Sari said. Optimus stopped in front of the girl, his spark racing and his audio receptors working overtime.

"What the spark…?" Ratchet mumbled.

"Shh—" Optimus shushed. "Prowl, open the door." He whispered before pulling out his ion-axe and readying it just to be safe. They never had visitors, unless you count the Constructicons.

When the door was opened, everyone gasped.

"Heeeey, I've seen him before. Isn't that… Swindle?" Bumblebee scratched his head puzzlingly.

"I thought they towed him away to be stripped of parts." Bulkhead added.

"And wasn't he a lot bigger?" Prowl asked, looking down at the sight in front of him.

"Oh, no, not again," Ratchet groaned.

Swindle, who was now about the size of a three-year-old human child, shakily stumbled forward and onto his face, crying and bawling at ear-piercing levels the whole time. Sari ran to him and picked him up, cradling him soothingly in her arms. The little con artist slowed his crying and looked up into the girl's face with huge, tear-filled optics. Looking closer, Sari saw that his body was riddled with many dents, scrapes, gashes, and cuts, some of which leaked streams of pinkish-purple energon. Sari cringed at the sight, knowing the poor thing had to be in serious pain. He looked as though he had been physically abused for no apparent reason. Decepticon or not, she placed Swindle down on the floor and took her key from around her neck. She was about to place it close to the 'Con's Decepticon insignia, but Ratchet's irritated voice reached her ears.

"What do you think you're doing?" he roared.

"Healing him," the girl replied. "Look at him. He looks like he's fought Megatron himself."

"That's a Decepticon, you know."

"I know, Ratchet, but he still needs help. Besides, he's not that menacing anymore. I doubt he even remembers who we are." Sari proceeded to put the key into the hole on Swindle's stomach, allowing the Allspark energy to flow over him and heal his wounds. "There, all better." She smiled down at the baby bot. Swindle gurgled and cooed happily, never once taking his optics off the human in front of him.

"This can only mean one thing," Ratchet shook his head.

"There's another piece of the Allspark out there with the ability to turn back time." Optimus finished, bending down on one knee to get a closer look at the baby Decepticon.

"But how did Swindle get hold of it?" Prowl asked.

"I guess that's something we're gonna have to find out for ourselves." Optimus straightened back up. "Where to start is the main problem. Another question we should be asking is how did Swindle end up on our doorstep. No one knows about this place except for the Constructicons," Optimus glared in Bulkhead's direction, "and I highly doubt they would have any interest in dropping a Decepticon infant by for us to baby-sit."

"And I doubt Swindle walked here by himself." Ratchet added, calmly watching as Swindle took a few steps before falling on his skidplate, Sari picking him up and setting him back on his feet. Swindle squealed in delight and reached his tiny hands out for Sari to pick him up and hold him. Sari couldn't resist and gave in to the huge, pleading, purple optics staring back at her.

"The Elite Guard knows about this place." Bulkhead added.

"Bulkhead, they aren't here on earth anymore." said Optimus.

"Oh, yeah, right."

"Uhhh… am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this?" said Bumblebee.

"Nope," Ratchet sighed. "I'm getting one now, too. Wherever there's one sparkling, there's bound to be more—or soon will be."

"It's too late to think about this tonight." Optimus sighed. "Swindle can stay here with us and tomorrow we can start searching for some answers."

The rest of the night went by without anymore interesting interruptions. Everyone finished their work and movies and whatever else they were doing and headed toward their rooms. After having to sit through and listen to a stream of angry complaints from Ratchet, Sari carried Swindle to her bedroom and placed him down on her tire bed. Bumblebee came in behind her and peered over the girl at the small Decepticon that continued to wriggle about while sucking on his thumb and making curious noises that, Sari assumed, was common baby gibberish among sparklings.

"So what are you going to do with him?" Bumblebee asked.

"Let him sleep in my bed," Sari smiled, "Just like when you were turned into a baby the last time."

"You're actually going to let that—that crooked Decepticon con artist sleep in your bed?!" Bumblebee gasped. "Sari, I know you feel sorry for him, but do you think that's a good idea?"

"Well, it's clear that he's not going to make any deals or sell me anything right now." Sari pointed in Swindle's direction. The Decepticon was contentedly lying on the bed, thumb in mouth, and optic lids slowly closing in sleep. "Besides, do you _really_ want me to leave him in Ratchet's care?"

"Coming to think of it, Ratchet would probably take him apart and rearrange him into a vacuum cleaner."

"Exactly," Sari hopped up onto her bed and grabbed Swindle. The sparkling squeaked in glee before curling up into Sari's arms. Bumblebee smiled before leaving and starting toward his own room.

It was four o'clock in the morning when Sari was awakened by the sound of crying—an ear-piercing wailing right beside her left ear. She jolted upright and peered through the darkness at Swindle. She felt the little Decepticon thrashing about and kicking the covers in a violent fury while he continued to voice his displeasure in the highest of decibels. A human baby crying was one thing, but to hear a baby robot crying was a totally different experience and one that Sari didn't wish to go through at early hours of the morning. Not being able to make out what the problem was, she leaned over and turned on the lamp setting on her makeshift night table. Swindle continued to scream and holler at the highest level possible. Sari grimaced as she turned to pick up the sparkling.

"Swindle," Sari started, again cringing at the crying, "Swindle, it's okay, I'm right here. What's wrong?" She cradled the bot next to her, dodging Swindle's flailing arms and legs. As if she needed more problems, a slight knock was suddenly heard at the door.

"Come in." Sari called before a yawn escaped her lips. The door opened and in walked a recharge deprived Bumblebee who sleepily staggered forward.

"What's wrong?" he asked, coming up to Sari's bed.

"You heard him all the way down the hall?" the girl moved her head out of the way of one of Swindle's maddened fists.

"Sari, I think people on the other side of the world can hear him."

The girl cringed as she tried soothing Swindle's wailing, which was by now starting to get on her nerves. She bounced the infant up and down and talked to him soothingly and even forced one of her stuffed animals toward him, but no matter what she did, Swindle was not going to stop for nothing. In a fit of frustration, he violently pushed the stuffed teddy bear that Sari was holding in front of him out of the way and screamed harder and louder. Bumblebee put his hands over his audio receptors and gritted his teeth.

"I don't know what's wrong with him!" Sari shouted over the shrill crying.

"Wha?" Bumblebee took his hands away from his receptors. "I can't hear you over the air raid siren!" he shouted back.

"I said—" Sari's words were cut off when she caught sight of Ratchet coming into the room. Bumblebee followed her gaze. The old medic wore a grouchy, annoyed look on his face and he carried a small bottle in one of his hands. He walked up to Sari and handed her the bottle.

"Hurry and give it to him before we all go deaf!" Ratchet mumbled.

She took it and grabbed hold of Swindle and placed the bottle's nipple in his mouth. The sparkling immediately hushed his crying and greedily began feeding on the sweet oil that the bottle held. Everyone sighed in relief at the quietness that filled the room.

"Thank the Allspark," Ratchet breathed before turning to leave. Once the old bot was out of sight, Bumblebee turned to look at Sari and Swindle. Swindle was now contentedly curled up in Sari's arms, half dozing, as he continued to gulp down however much oil the bottle would allow.

When sunrise came, the Autobot base started stirring with action. Sari fed Swindle and then settled down in the common room in hopes of keeping the little sparkling quiet and out of everyone's way. It soon proved harder than she thought. Swindle was full of energy and curiosity and wanted to wander everywhere. It was useless to keep him contained to one spot, so Sari followed him wherever he wished to go, unless it was just too dangerous to allow him there. Then the room was filled with an outburst of screaming and crying as Sari carried a kicking sparkling back to where they were before. Once Swindle was placed on the floor again, the crying would always stop and he'd turn right back around and attempt to go in the same direction. Aside from the momentary frustrations, Sari had to admit that it was pretty easy since Swindle couldn't walk all that well and thus couldn't go too far, too fast. He would take several quick steps before staggering and falling either forward or backward.

A few hours passed by and Bumblebee came into the room. He walked over to where Sari was trying to keep Swindle entertained with some books and stuffed animals.

"Keeping the little brat out of trouble?" he asked, approaching the two.

"Bumblebee!" Sari scolded.

"Just kidding," Bumblebee reached down and playfully rubbed Swindle's cheek with one of his fingers. Swindle scrunched his face plates up in a 'not amused' way before locking teeth tightly into the yellow and black digit.

"YEEEOW!!" Bumblebee screamed while grabbing for his injured finger. "Man, what was that for?"

"Probably for when you called him a brat," Sari smiled, "He might be a baby, but he's smart."

"Yeah—smart like the scheming Decepticon he really is."

Swindle stuck his tongue out at Bumblebee before crossing his arms over his chest. Sari had to suppress a chuckle.

"What goes on in here?" said Ratchet, coming into the room. "I thought I heard a scream."

"That little Decepticon brat tried to eat me!" Bumblebee replied, pointing toward Swindle. "I barely got away alive."

"Bumblebee, he just bit your finger." Sari shook her head.

"I got bitten by a Decepticon, you mean! He probably infected me with some sort of horrible Autobot eating virus!" Bumblebee was on the verge of freaking out. "Will I live, doc?" Bumblebee stretched his wounded finger toward Ratchet, who in turn gave it a puzzled look. "I won't need shots will I? Please tell me I won't."

"Well…I…" Ratchet struggled to find words.

"I'll probably turn into something like that barnacle monster!" Bumblebee continued on.

"How can you accuse something like that of giving you a virus?" Sari gestured toward Swindle. Bumblebee and Ratchet turned to face the Decepticon sparkling, who was looking up at all of the staring faces in the most innocent way possible, his huge purple eyes filling up with tears. Ratchet sighed to himself before turning to walk off, purposely blocking out the argument and complaining that had, by now, broken out behind him.


	2. An Evil Plan

The rest of the day went by fast for everyone

The rest of the day went by fast for everyone. Optimus Prime and Prowl went out on patrol several times in hopes of finding some kind of lead on how Swindle had ended up at the plant and how he had been turned into a sparkling. And each time they had returned with nothing. Sari watched silently as her huge friends talked over everything and eyed Swindle as if he held the answers they were searching for. However, it wasn't until that night that things took a different turn.

"The scanners are picking up an Allspark fragment not too far from here." said Optimus, not taking his optics off the computer monitors in front of him. He punched several keypads, bringing up a map of the city. "It looks like it's inside of an old warehouse."

"Why would it be there?" said Ratchet, walking up to Optimus's side.

"I have no idea, but we need to obtain it before the Decepticons find it." Optimus turned. His optics went down to Sari standing beside Ratchet.

"Can I come?" she said hopefully.

"No, Sari. I don't know what sort of trouble we'll run into. You need to stay here and watch after Swindle."

"But the Allspark fragment—you need my key to locate it."

"I already have a pretty good idea of where it is. I think we can manage without your key just this once."

"But…"

"Sari," Optimus's voice grew sterner, "Swindle needs you. Besides, we won't be gone very long."

Sari sighed and crossed her arms. Optimus turned an annoyed look to Ratchet and then walked toward the front door.

"Autobots!" he called over his shoulder, "Transform and roll out!"

Optimus transformed into his fire truck form before rolling out into the night's darkness. Ratchet and the other Autobots soon followed after him, each one transforming into their vehicle modes. Sari watched as her friends drove off. Her attention was soon diverted to a small bundle walking up to stand beside her. She turned to see Swindle nuzzling up to her side, thumb in mouth and optics sleepily drooping. She smiled before picking the sparkling up.

When the Autobots entered the warehouse, they transformed to robot mode. The place was dark and completely abandoned of any form of life aside from a few mice that scampered into hiding places.

"You sure we're in the right place?" Bumblebee turned to Optimus.

Optimus nodded. "The scanners showed that the Allspark energy was coming from this area. Let's look around. It's got to be hidden somewhere."

Everyone split up to search the huge room, looking behind stacked boxes and any other area where a piece of the Allspark could have fallen and wedged itself into. Several minutes of searching passed and nothing was found. The Autobots met in the open, scratching their heads in confusion.

"You'd think we would have seen an Allspark glow by now." said Prowl.

"I don't care what everyone says, we should have brought Sari with us. Her key would have led us right to it." Bumblebee grumbled. "And we could have been back home watching TV by now!"

"Oh, quit your griping. The exercise will do you good." Ratchet replied.

"Oh, really,"

"Will you two mute it?" Optimus said irritably. "It's obvious we're the only ones here, so that fragment has to be here somewhere."

"Well, well. What a pleasant surprise," an ominous voice called, making the Autobots freeze where they stood and turn toward the front door. The dark, towering figure of Megatron stepped out of the blackness of the night outside, closely followed by Blitzwing and Lugnut. Before any of them could say anything else, a crash was heard overhead, sending a shower of glass and wood raining down around the mechs as Starscream broke through the skylight and landed in the middle of the room. He quickly peered around him at the two opposing sides and grinned to himself.

"Looks like I've landed in the middle of an interesting situation." he smiled. His optics turned toward the Decepticon leader. "Ah, Megatron—It's nice to see you again, old friend." Starscream knew he would hit a nerve with that greeting. And he was right.

"Starscream…" the Decepticon lord hissed through his teeth and narrowed his gaze. He seemingly ignored the Decepticon standing in front of him and turned his attention back to Optimus.

"Before we were so _rudely_ interrupted," Megatron said in his calm, cold voice, shooting Starscream another menacing glare, "I was about to say that I didn't expect to see you here."

"I didn't expect to see you here either." Optimus grabbed his ion-axe and held it out in front of him. "Let me guess. You're tracing the Allspark fragment too?"

"Yes,"

"What is this all about?" said Starscream impatiently. "_I_ was tracing the Allspark fragment! I didn't expect to be met with a welcoming committee!"

Megatron silently gritted his teeth, not pleased at being in the same room with the traitorous scum standing a few feet away. It was all he could do to keep himself from running over and locking his hands around Starscream's throat.

"Your guess is as good as ours." Optimus answered, easing up a little when he saw that the Decepticons weren't going to attack. He continued to keep a cautious eye on them anyway. "But, judging by the looks of this room, I'd say that someone wants us to trace this Allspark piece for a reason."

"Why would they want both Autobots and Decepticons to trace it?" Bumblebee asked.

Optimus shrugged his shoulders. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"How?!" Bumblebee looked around him. "I don't see anyone else around here but us."

"Where is everyone?" Lugnut's voice boomed. "I dare them to show themselves!"

"Whatever the reason is, I don't like it one bit." Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest.

"Vell, at least they have a good dance floor!" Blitzwing's Random face said, pounding his foot on the floor of the warehouse and sending a deafening echo through the place. Everyone sighed and ignored the multiple personality bot.

"So, where is this Allspark piece?" Starscream asked.

"We don't know," Optimus replied, "Our scanners showed that it was coming from within this area, but so far we haven't found any traces of it yet."

"You LIE!!" Starscream shouted, pushing himself closer to Optimus. "It's gotta be around here somewhere! And I bet you Autobot scum are hiding it."

"Actually, they're telling the truth." Another voice—a female voice—interrupted. All Autobots and Decepticons turned toward a shadowed area where a small figure stood. Coming out into the open, the figure turned out to be Slo-Mo, the infamous villainess who had been captured and sent to jail not too long ago. Clad in watches and other time devices, she walked toward her new guests, a satisfied smirk across her lips. At that moment, Bumblebee remembered the slowdown timepiece that she once possessed. Whether she still had it or not was not known, but he didn't wish to take any chances and found himself slowly inching his way behind Optimus. "I'm glad all of you could make it. And for those of you who don't know, I'm Slo-Mo."

"I thought you were in jail." Optimus glared down at the woman.

"Not anymore, sugar. I'm as free as a bird, and ready to do business."

"And just why have you brought us here?" Starscream pushed himself into Slo-Mo's face.

"Part of my business," Slo-Mo took out her timepiece, "revenge business!"

"She's gonna slow us all down!!" Bumblebee shouted.

The Decepticons were thrown for a loop at Bumblebee's words, not understanding what he was talking about. Clicking was heard all over the room as guns, fusion cannons, and other weaponry was suddenly pointed in Slo-Mo's direction. And then Megatron remembered when Swindle tried selling him a device that stopped any robot in its tracks. Could it be that Slo-Mo held the secret behind it?

"Take it easy, big guys, I'm not gonna slow you down this time. I've got a new toy that I'd like to introduce you to." Slo-Mo dangled a different timepiece in front of her. "I think you already know the results it has on any Autobot or Decepticon it hits. I believe you've met Swindle?" she turned to Optimus. His mouth gaped open. He never would have guessed that Slo-Mo had been the cause of Swindle turning into a baby. "Ah, yes, I chose the one robot that double-crossed me to be the test subject of this little gadget."

"What the spark is she talking about?!" Starscream demanded. "Am I the only one who feels lost here?! What is this timepiece?"

"You know what? I'm gonna enjoy turning _you_ into a baby." Slo-Mo smiled at Starscream. "Just so I can shut you up!"

"A baby?!" Starscream looked closer at the timepiece that Slo-Mo held. "Hey, wait a minute. That looks like an Allspark fragment." As if to verify his words, the piece of Allspark wedged into Starscream's forehead started glowing. "It IS an Allspark piece!" Starscream ran toward the device and reached to snatch it out of Slo-Mo's hands, but a bluish ray of light shot out from it and hit Starscream. It wasn't but a split second before Starscream disappeared… onto the floor. Every optic in the room went down to the small Decepticon sitting at Slo-Mo's feet.

"What the…?" Megatron breathed, seeing his former second-in-command curiously looking up into the stunned faces staring back at him.

"Oh, zlag, not again," Blitzwing's Icy face mumbled at seeing the sparkling Starscream. He started backing away but was stopped when he caught sight of the menacing glare that Megatron turned toward him.

"It works much faster this time, Prime!" said Ratchet. "We'd better do somethin' or we're all gonna be at her mercy!"

"Well, this is one bot who is NOT gonna be turned into a sparkling again!" Bumblebee shouted, coming out from behind Optimus.

"Bumblebee, wait!" Optimus Prime grabbed for Bee, but it was too late. The small Autobot ran toward Slo-Mo while switching his hands to his stingers. Taking aim, he shot a slight charge that hit Slo-Mo's hand. She screamed in pain and dropped the timepiece. Once it came in contact with the ground, the jar caused a huge burst of light to fill the room for a moment before disappearing. Slo-Mo opened her eyes and cautiously peered around her, expecting to see huge robots. Instead, the room was filled with miniature forms that resembled the once large mechs. Autobots and Decepticons alike crawled across the floor, staggered around on tiny legs, and curiously fingered anything their small hands came in contact with, completely oblivious to the female criminal standing beside them.

Slo-Mo smiled pleasingly to herself as she turned and motioned for someone, who had been standing in the darkness, to come out.

"It's alright, Nanosec. They've all been turned into babies. Bring me one of those huge boxes and we'll gather them up." she shouted to her partner. Just as he had been told, Nanosec pushed a large crate up to Slo-Mo's side while she gathered each robot up and placed him inside. She purposely handled them as roughly as possible—jerking them up by the back part of their plating and sometimes even by their neck. She reached and firmly grabbed Starscream by one of his wings, causing the tiny Seeker to scream in pain and kick his legs furiously.

"Oh be quiet, you little brat!" she grunted before throwing him into the crate along with the others. Next she grabbed up Blitzwing by one of his guns, again another scream of pain filled the room as she tossed him into the crate like a piece of crumpled paper, never once paying any attention to the crying.

"Hey, go easy, Slo, you're hurting them." said Nanosec. "I'm not gonna stand here and watch you abuse them like you did Swindle. They may be a pain to us when they're big, but they're kids now."

"You worry too much." she sighed, reaching for Megatron. "They're just machines—robots, artificial life. You can't expect me to believe they actually feel pain."

"I dunno. These aren't like any other robots I've ever seen."

"Well, I know one thing—they aren't going to be bothering us anymore." Slo-Mo grabbed up Bumblebee and Bulkhead. "My new timepiece worked like a charm, and I didn't have to do a thing hardly. It was all this little guy's fault." She held up Bumblebee in front of Nanosec before putting him down in the crate.

"You're a genius, Slo." Nanosec grinned. "I think I like your new timepiece even better than the last one."

"They're all in the box." Slo-Mo said at last, ignoring Nanosec.

"All except one." Nanosec walked away and returned with something in his hands. He was holding it as far out in front of him as he possibly could, as if it were infected. Slo-Mo smiled devilishly when her eyes met the small form of Wreck-Gar, who was squirming and wriggling in Nanosec's hands. Nanosec placed Wreck-Gar down in the crate amidst the rest of the bots. "Phew! He smells horrible."

"Never mind," Slo-Mo grabbed for a lid for the crate.

"What are we gonna do with them?"

"We're going to fasten this crate up and dump it somewhere—somewhere secluded, deep, dark, wet even. No more giant robots means we can have the town to ourselves."

Nanosec smiled as he helped Slo place the lid down on the box. At that moment the sound of a car motor revving up outside caused the two criminals to stop what they were doing and turn around.

"Someone's coming," Slo-Mo grabbed her timepiece, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

"But the crate…"

"There's no time. We'll come back later and finish the job. Now let's get out of here before we're caught." Both ran for all they were worth toward an exit at the back of the warehouse and disappeared.


	3. Tiny Bundles, BIG Problems

Back at the plant, Sari didn't have any difficulty putting Swindle down for the night. Once she gave him his bottle of oil, the little sparkling settled down in her bed and went to sleep, clutching one of her stuffed animals tightly in his arms. The rest of the time went by slowly for the young girl. At times she wondered if the Autobots were ever going to return from their mission. She was beginning to grow concerned when she heard what sounded like a car just outside. She wasn't sure if it was next to the building or out on the road, but it sounded close.

Hearing a car horn, Sari jumped up from her seat in front of the TV and ran toward the front entrance. Once the huge door was open, she ran outside in hopes of seeing her friends and finding out if they had found the Allspark fragment. But she stopped. Looking toward the road, she just happened to catch a glimpse of the mysterious Blue Racer speeding off into the distance before any questions were asked.

"The Blue Racer?" Sari wondered out loud before she looked down on the ground in front of her. It was at this point that she thought her mind went numb. Not more than two feet away was a group of screaming, squirming sparklings that resembled the Autobots as well as the Decepticons. She counted ten before she had to suppress a slight scream. "Oh this is just wrong!" she said aloud before approaching the babies. "Why me??" Sighing, she started picking them up one at a time, carrying them inside the plant and placing them down on the common room floor.

When the last of the sparklings had been carried inside and the door shut, Sari looked dumbfounded at the chaos that was going on in the middle of the floor in front of her. The screaming and crying was enough to get on anyone's nerves, but that's not what concerned the girl at that moment. She rushed over and tried prying Megatron off Starscream, both of which had been in a fight from the moment she brought them inside. Megatron was determined not to let go and grabbed onto one of Starscream's wings, causing the little Seeker to scream in pain. Sari cringed at the noise before grabbing hold of Megatron's hand to loosen it. "Let go!" Sari yelled. Megatron finally loosened his grip and both he and Sari fell backwards onto the floor. She reached and latched onto Megatron's arm and pulled him as far away from Starscream as she could before forcing him to sit down. Then she turned to tackle the rest of the problems.

"Phew!" Sari wrinkled her nose. "What is that smell?" She looked around at the sparklings still sprawled on the floor until her eyes landed on Wreck-Gar. The little walking pile of garbage in the form of a robot sat off to the side while giggling and clapping his hands in glee at the ruckus going on around him. If the odor that came from him didn't announce how bad he smelt, the flies swarming around him did. Sari wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Wreck-Gar," she called, "how did _you_ get here?!" The tiny garbage truck robot turned to the girl, his already happy smile becoming wider. His optics sparkled as he reached his hands out for the girl to pick him up. "No way!" Sari held her hands out in front of her as she backed up. "Ratchet!!" she called before remembering that Ratchet was sitting in front of her with the rest of the sparklings. The former medic calmly looked up at hearing his name. Sari sighed to herself. It was definitely going to be a long night. How the Autobots could go out on a simple mission and come back as sparklings was beyond her reasoning.

Sari opened her eyes again and peered around her at the squalling and crying metal bundles. Both Autobots and Decepticons intermingled with each other—crawling, wrestling, pulling on each other's parts, and screaming in each other's audio receptors—not in the least bothered by the fact that both sides were normally supposed to be enemies. The only ones that weren't causing a disturbance were Prowl, Ratchet, Wreck-Gar, and Optimus, all of which innocently sat amongst everyone—still and quiet and looking somewhat sleepy and bewildered. That is, except for Wreck-Gar, who apparently was having the time of his life—squealing, laughing, and giggling. Even when he was normal, Wreck-Gar acted like a child. Finally his body size matched his intelligence, or so Sari silently thought to herself as she threw the smelly robot another glance.

Not taking her eyes off the other sparklings, the young girl suddenly grabbed onto Megatron again when he tried making his way over to where Starscream was. The tiny Decepticon leader roughly sat back down with a clank and began to pout and emit fake tears and whines. "If you can't play nice, you can't play at all." Sari told him before she had to quickly walk away to see what Bumblebee was crying about and why he had violently shoved Lugnut away from him, causing the one-optic infant to clumsily topple over backwards. Blitzwing, catching sight of the girl and obviously remembering her from the previous time he had been turned into a sparkling, quickly ran up to her and grabbed hold of her dress and followed along beside her wherever she went.

It was a good hour before Sari finally got everyone to be quiet and still. By this time her ears were starting to ring from the metallic, shrill crying and screaming that had been going on pretty much the whole time. Now the sparklings were quietly seated in front of the weary girl, happily entertained by whatever she could find to give them—some of her own stuffed animals, the TV remote, books, her cell phone, some random junk she found lying around. Whatever it was, she grabbed it and gave it to them, just so long as it was safe for an infant to handle. The room was currently filled with the comforting sounds of soft coos and gurgles of baby robots as they examined everything with curious fingers and optics. Bumblebee and Blitzwing, however, lay curled up around Sari while dozing off to sleep. The girl softly ran her hand over each one's head.

Everyone was being good, except for Starscream who continued to whine and throw an occasional tantrum. Everything seemed to upset the tiny Seeker. He played with the stuffed toy horse he held in his hands for awhile, but for no reason whatsoever he suddenly threw it and started crying. He cried for several minutes before quieting down again and reaching to grab something else from the pile of treasures spread out in front of him. Sari couldn't figure him out. She was too tired anyway to do much figuring. As long as everyone kept quiet and out of trouble, she was okay with it. But now that the chaos was over, it finally hit Sari that she was alone with eleven baby robots. She was stuck with no form of transportation and no one to go to for help, unless it was Fanzone. She could just imagine the grumpy police captain's reaction to her asking for his help in caring for the bots. He already despised robots (at least he displayed that feeling to everyone around him). If she came to him with her miniature army of infant bots, he'd probably have to be hauled off to an insane asylum.

As if she needed more problems, she was going to have to find some way to turn the robots back to their normal selves. But how? She had no idea what was causing all of this in the first place, except that it was the work of an Allspark fragment. Where was the fragment and how did everyone—both Autobot and Decepticon—manage to come in contact with it at the same time? Optimus and the other Autobots were going to search for it in a warehouse. Whatever happened there was a secret that only the older versions of the sparklings in front of her knew. And it was perfectly clear that that highly important bit of information wasn't going to be revealed anytime soon.

If she could just get to that warehouse, maybe she could end all of this! But how was she going to get there and care for this mob at the same time? Sari's eyes began to droop, but she suddenly jolted awake when a flying book hit her in the head.

"Alright, who did that?" she glared around the circle of sparklings. Every small finger pointed in Starscream's direction. The Seeker's optics filled with tears and his lip quivered as if expecting Sari to punish him at any given moment. Sari sighed at seeing the sight.

"What's wrong with you, Starscream?" she asked. Starscream said nothing, of course, and instead lowered his head and sniffled.

It wasn't long before Sari officially announced that it was time for bed. Normally she would have stayed up all night, but she was beat after the night's events. While yawning for what seemed like the tenth time, she carried each sparkling to her bedroom where she gave each of them a bottle of oil. While they drank their fill, she busied herself with making a giant makeshift 'crib' on the floor from pieces of lumber and whatever else she could find in the plant. She tied the boards together with some rope and propped boxes around it to keep them standing. She knew it probably wouldn't hold all of her charges for long, but if she could get them to fall asleep maybe they wouldn't realize just how easily it would be for them to escape. After she made sure the walls of the crib were sturdy enough and safe, she placed blankets and pillows inside and then started to gently place each sparkling down in it. Sari looked down at the sleeping robots one last time before turning to go to bed herself. She crawled under the covers, careful not to wake up Swindle, and turned the light out.

When Sari woke the next morning, she had the feeling she wasn't the only one in her bed. Swindle was still sleeping beside her, but she felt something else. Turning her head to the right, she was met with a slumbering Bumblebee right in her face. It took her by surprise at first, but when she realized who and what it was, she smiled before kissing the little yellow bot on his nose. Bumblebee, still asleep, curled up even more at the touch and snuggled closer to the girl. Sari smiled again, but stopped when her feet hit something at the foot of the bed. She struggled to sit up, careful not to wake everyone, and peered through sleepy eyes to see what exactly it was. She giggled when her eyes met a sleeping Blitzwing. The poor little bot looked like he just barely made it into the bed before he fell into recharge. He lay on his stomach, arms sprawled, and feet half hanging off the side. Sari's smiled suddenly dropped. If Blitzwing and Bumblebee were sleeping in her bed, then—

Sari got up and jumped out of bed, running over to the crib. One of the side boards had been knocked down and the crib was empty. Every sparkling that had been sleeping in it the night before was gone. It didn't take Sari long to figure out where they had gone to. A shrill cry and scream echoed through the hallway, seeming to have come from the common room. How they managed to walk that far was beyond her, but she knew she needed to get in there as soon as possible. With panic almost gripping her, Sari ran as quickly as she could out of her bedroom and down the hall, stopping in the doorway of the common room. She gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth. The common room was in a state of disarray as tiny robots scampered and ran around and crawled over the machinery and conveyer belts located in the middle of the room. Wreck-Gar ran around the room while giggling and throwing assorted trash and garbage into the air for whatever reason while being chased by an equally giggling Bulkhead and Lugnut. Starscream and Megatron were wrestling, fighting, and tumbling over each other while Prowl, Ratchet, and Optimus crawled over the conveyer belts. Thank goodness they weren't turned on.

The room went silent when a loud, piercing scream reached every audio receptor. Every sparkling cringed, stopped what they were doing, and turned their attention in Sari's direction.

"I can't TAKE this anymore!" she cried out in frustration. "Why is it that Swindle, Bumblebee, and Blitzwing are still asleep and I come in here to find the rest of you making a mess?! If this is what it's like to be a mother, I'm glad I'm a little kid! Just look at this place!"

Every optic went down to the floor where Sari gestured. It was filthy and littered with garbage of all sorts. She turned an angry face towards little Wreck-Gar, who just happened to drop what trash he still held in his hands.

"You," she pointed to Wreck-Gar, "You're the one who made this mess. Clean it up!"

"O-kay!" he squeaked innocently and happily, not understanding that it was supposed to be a punishment and a method of teaching responsibility. He immediately set to work with slowly and delicately bending over and picking up each piece of trash with his tiny hands and placing it inside the receptacle on his back as if he had all day to do it.

Sari shook her head silently as she watched Wreck-Gar's slow moving work. Starscream's wailing reached the girl's ears and she ran over and roughly snatched Megatron off the little Seeker and tucked the squirming and fussing grey robot under her arm before making her way over to the conveyer belts where Optimus was about ready to take a tumble off. She grabbed him just in time with her free hand and set him down on the floor, giving one of his ear aerials a gentle rub. Next she grabbed hold of Prowl and then Ratchet, setting them both down on the floor next to Optimus. Ratchet let out a squeal of delight and clapped his hands together, looking up into Sari's face.

"Oh, Ratchet, what am I gonna do with you?—what am I gonna do with all of you?" she sighed before realizing she was still holding Megatron practically upside down. She bent over to place him on the floor at her feet. Wreck-Gar, apparently losing interest in the job he had been given, walked up to Sari at this moment and flopped down on the floor. With optics sparkling with innocence, he stretched his arms up to the girl and kindly offered her a pile of garbage he held in his hands. The girl cringed at the gift but not wanting to hurt the little bot's feelings, she reached to accept it. At seeing how pleased she was with the gift, Wreck-Gar stood up and waddled over to Lugnut and Bulkhead and began wrestling and rolling around with them. Sari took this time to drop the trash and wiped her hands quickly down her dress.

The room, by this time, was in chaos again as the sparklings continued to rough-house with one another. Sari just ignored them as she ran down the hall to her bedroom. She felt like screaming again and she probably would have if it weren't for the three pairs of optics curiously staring at her from her bed. Blitzwing's face suddenly changed to Random and a tiny, happy squeak escaped the glowing red mouth as he slid off backwards, making a rough landing on the hard floor. It didn't even seem to bother the crazy little bot. He just picked himself up and proceeded to run as fast as he could toward Sari. She accepted Blitzwing with open arms, scooping him up and hugging him. Immediately, Swindle and Bumblebee stretched out their arms in hopes Sari still had hugs left for them. Not being able to resist, Sari walked over and picked them all up.

At least she had three that weren't giving her trouble.


	4. The New Babysitter

Nanosec leaned back in his chair and watched, from across the table, as Slo-Mo restlessly paced back and forth in front of him. The villainess silently fumed as she thought of what to do next in her plans. Since the baby robots weren't in the warehouse when she and Nanosec had returned that same night, the once brilliant plans had backfired worse than Slo-Mo anticipated. The baby bots were gone to who knows where. And what was worse—there was someone out there who knew what she and Nanosec were up to and had followed them to the warehouse that night. What to do, what to do. Slo-Mo paced harder.

"I could have told you they wouldn't be there." said Nanosec, interrupting Slo-Mo's thoughts, "Whoever that was outside probably heard the bots' crying and took them."

"Don't you think I've already come to that conclusion?" Slo-Mo said through gritted teeth. "Agh! I can't believe this is even happening! My plan was flawless! Once I succeeded in turning all of those troublesome robots into babies and dumped them in the lake, the city would have been ours for the taking! Think of it, sweetheart—jewelry, money, priceless artifacts and paintings from museums—it could have all been ours! We could have been rolling in dough." Slo-Mo, in frustration, pulled out her timepiece, which resembled a huge pocket watch with a piece of the Allspark for the hands. It looked like her old one, except this one was silver in color.

"I wouldn't worry too much, Slo. I'm sure we'll find those bots sooner or later. At least they won't be bothering us anytime soon. As long as you hold that timepiece, they'll remain babies. And what good is a band of baby robots gonna do for this city?"

"You're right," Slo-Mo's lips curled into a pleasing smile, "This timepiece is the only thing that can turn them back, and I own it." she snapped her fingers and pointed to her partner. "Nanosec, we're going out on the town tonight. Even though every part of my plan didn't go as I would have liked, we're still rid of those robots. And I feel like celebrating."

Nanosec smiled, "That's my girl."

"But we must remain cautious and keep our eyes open for those bots. You never know when they might show up. And when they do…" Slo-Mo's smile turned into an evil grin. Nanosec met hers with one that seemed to be twice as evil.

After getting her sense back, Sari walked into the common room again while carrying Bumblebee in her arms. Swindle and Blitzwing walked along beside her, trying desperately to keep up with the girl. The other sparklings were still busy tearing the place apart and making as much noise as they possibly could but Sari apparently didn't care. She dragged her feet over the garbage strewn floor and plopped herself down in one of the huge beanbag chairs placed in front of the TV. Blitzwing and Swindle watched the rest of the sparklings in silent fascination. Sari almost groaned when Blitzwing's Icy face switched to Random. The triple changer clapped his hands gleefully before giggling in a most eerie way and running off to join the ruckus. Swindle was ready to run after him, but Sari caught him and pulled him back.

"Don't you dare," she glared at him. "I've got enough problems as it is. I don't need every single one of you running wild."

Swindle lowered his head as if pondering what he had just been told and roughly sat down on the floor. Sari sighed and turned a menacing glare behind her at hearing a loud pop and crackle. The answer to her unasked questions came next as the remains of a busted plastic coke bottle flew upwards through the air, followed by an explosion of giggles and laughter from several of the baby bots. Leave it to Wreck-Gar to provide hours of entertainment with his non-stop supply of trash.

Sari turned back around to Bumblebee resting in her arms. The little yellow bot smiled innocently at the girl before nestling himself closer to her. He grabbed hold of the key strung around her neck and fingered it lazily. The girl's mind was temporarily taken off her problems as she continued to watch her little friend. But it wasn't for long. Suddenly there was a scream—then crying followed. Sari immediately jumped out of her seat and ran behind the cement couch to see what the problem was this time. Swindle followed closely behind. Aside from the floor being covered in several inches of garbage, there were sparklings dotted here and there. The one crying was Blitzwing, and not too far away from him was a cowering Starscream. What had actually happened was not known, but Starscream, obviously the guilty one, got up and ran to another part of the room before Sari could get her hands on him. Much to the girl's horror, Blitzwing's face switched to Hothead, who was out for revenge in the worst way possible. He glared in Starscream's direction and positioned his tiny guns over his shoulders. Before Sari could stop him, there was a burst of light. Sari screamed and jumped backwards. Starscream was too far away for Blitzwing to harm him, but the trash that littered the floor was successfully ignited by the short jets of flame that shot out from Blitzwing's twin tank barrels.

Putting Bumblebee down next to Swindle, Sari ran and snatched one of the fire extinguishers from the wall and quickly dowsed the fire before it could get out of control. Optimus slowly walked over and helped by squirting solution from his built-in extinguishers. When the blaze was completely out, Sari placed the extinguisher down and turned an angry face towards Blitzwing. His face turned back to Icy.

"Satisfied?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Blitzwing cowered and whimpered a little. He moved his guns into firing position again and shot out a stream of ice that covered and froze the area that had moments before been aflame.

"I think it's a little late for that. You should have done it when the trash was still on fire!" said Sari. She walked over and grabbed Blitzwing by his arm and pulled him along with her, the little triple changer protesting and struggling all the way. She continued to pull him until she reached the beanbag chair, where she picked him up and set him down in it. Blitzwing was on the verge of breaking out in tears as he watched what Sari was going to do next.

"You stay here and behave yourself, if that's anyways possible." Sari pointed her finger at him. "And I don't want to see you setting anything else on fire. If you do, you're gonna regret it. Do you understand?"

Blitzwing nodded his head frantically, more than glad that she didn't spank him. Blitzwing buried himself deeper in the oversized beanbag and placed one of his thumbs in his mouth while he watched the girl make her way to the chaos that was still going on in the other part of the room.

"Starscream!" Sari called once she was standing in the midst of the trash again. The small jet robot peeked out from behind some of the machinery and slowly inched his way to Sari's side. Without saying a word, she grabbed him by the arm as well and pulled him over to a corner of the room. There she pushed him face first into the corner and told him to stay there until he learned to behave.

Sari sighed yet again as she picked Bumblebee up and carried him with her. She stopped and watched the other sparklings play in the floor. They had calmed down a little bit and occupied themselves with whatever was around them.

"Mind if I join your little party? You know I just love sparklings."

Sari almost dropped Bumblebee while she spun around at hearing the familiar voice. Her eyes nervously dotted around the room for a few minutes before locking themselves on the gigantic black and purple spider that peered in through one of the shattered windows. Not giving Sari a chance to answer, it wriggled through the open window and crawled down the wall before transforming into a tall, slim female robot. She put one hand on her hip and gazed around at her surroundings. All four of her red optics blinked curiously as if taking in everything with fascination. Sari wasn't sure if she wanted to know what was going on inside the female Decepticon's head.

"Charming place you have here." the female 'Con commented at last. "But if I were you, I'd have those windows fixed. You never know when someone might want to crawl in."

"W—what are you doing here?" Sari asked, clutching Bumblebee closer to her. Blackarachnia smiled at the girl's question, her upper lip revealing perfect white fangs. "And how did you know about the sparklings?"

"Well, to answer your first question: I thought I might be able to help out. As for your second question: I saw everything happen." Blackarachnia walked over and picked up Optimus Prime and placed him up to her face to nuzzle him.

"You saw everything happen??"

"I didn't plan on it," Blackarachnia replied, running one of her fingers over Optimus's belly in a tickling way. She smiled at his giggling. "It just sort of happened that way. I was standing on a rooftop not too far from the warehouse."

"Then you must know how they managed to get turned into sparklings!"

"I might know."

"You've got to tell me so I can get them back to normal!"

"What's in it for me?"

"Why should you get anything in return? This is a crisis! You should want to help them for nothing." Sari tilted her head and peered at the woman bot standing in front of her. "I know there's good still in you somewhere. Why won't you let it come out?"

Blackarachnia remained silent and stared, still holding the sparkling Optimus in her hand. She sighed to herself before turning to face Sari.

"I think he's even cuter as a sparkling." Blackarachnia smiled, holding Optimus up for Sari to see. Optimus giggled and cooed at feeling Blackarachnia's gentle touch as she ran her fingers over his helm and massaged his aerials. "So how about it, sister?—do I get to help out or not? It's my final offer. Let this one slip by and you're on your own."

Sari remained staring at the half organic, half robot creature in front of her while thinking over the offer. She really needed the help if she was ever going to get everyone back to normal. But Blackarachnia was a Decepticon! Could she be trusted? Even though she had a good streak that showed itself occasionally, she was still unpredictable and cunning. Still…

"Alright, you can help out. But you'd better not turn on us."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Blackarachnia waved the warning off before turning to the sparklings. "The first thing we need to do is clean up this place. What happened in here?—did a trash bot explode?"

Sari walked over to stand beside the female bot. "In a manner of speaking, yeah it did. That one did." She pointed to Wreck-Gar.

"Figures," Blackarachnia replied. The room, by this time, was silent. All of the sparklings stood still and looked up at the female bot as if they had never seen such a creature before. They continued to watch as she bent down and started picking up the garbage. Sari put Bumblebee down and started helping her.

"How did you find this place?" Sari asked.

"I followed a blue car—" Blackarachnia answered, "the same one that saved the sparklings."

"So you know who it is?"

"Haha—no, I don't." Blackarachnia smiled. "I followed it here, watched it drop off the sparklings, and take off just as you came out of the front door. Since you were here alone, I figured you would need someone to look after the place if trouble showed itself. So I settled myself on the top of your roof."

Sari looked up at the female bot. "Thanks," she softly said.

"Don't mention it."

Blackarachnia suddenly stopped in the middle of picking up a piece of trash and gasped. Sari wondered why and looked up to see what had caught the female's eyes. She saw Megatron standing right in front of them, innocently watching.

"What's wrong?" Sari asked.

"Nothing," Blackarachnia cleared her throat. "I didn't realize he got turned into a sparkling too. How ironic."

Not another word was said as Sari and Blackarachnia finished clearing the room of the filth that Wreck-Gar had so kindly decorated it with. The female 'Con transformed into her spider form and allowed the sparklings to climb onto her back for a ride. Sari watched—Bumblebee still clutched tightly in her arms. Bumblebee pointed to the spider and made a squeak sound as if telling Sari he wanted to join the others. Reluctantly, Sari placed him on the floor and watched him make his way to Blackarachnia. Since the sparklings were occupied for the time being and she wasn't needed, Sari decided that she would take this time to rest and grab something to eat since she hadn't eaten all morning. For the first time since she woke up she felt hungry.

Later that same day, Sari returned to the common room after resting, eating lunch, and taking a quick shower to wash the stench of Wreck-Gar's garbage off her. When she entered the room, she was met with a napping Blackarachnia who was still in spider form. She lay in the middle of the room, legs curled up under her and all of the sparklings nestled next to her huge arachnid body. Sari smiled. Maybe she hadn't made a bad choice after all. As much as she hated to, she was going to have to wake everyone up. It was time she got some answers as to who turned the robots into sparklings.


End file.
